Harvard Reports on Cancer Prevention
Volume I: Human Causes of Cancer
Cancer Causes & Control:
An International Journal of Studies of Cancer in Human Populations
Official Journal of the International Association of Cancer Registries
Volume 7 Supplement November 1996 ISSN 0957-5243
Glossary
carcinoma:
a cancerous tumor of epithelial cells.
case control study:
a type of study in which investigators compare a group of subjects with a particular disease (e.g., coronary heart disease) and another group with out the disease to determine which subjects were exposed to the factor of interest (e.g., smoking).
cohort study:
a type of study in which investigators begin with a group of subjects without the disease of interest (e.g., lung cancer), classify them according to their exposure status (e.g., people who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day compared with people who do not smoke), then monitor them over time for subsequent disease development; this is also called a follow-up study.
confounder:
an additional variable that may be responsible for an apparent association between an exposure and an outcome.
dose-response relationship:
an association in which the rate of disease increases or decreases in accordance with an increase or decrease in exposure.
incidence:
the number of events (e.g., newly diagnosed cases of a disease) that occur in a specified period of time.
inverse association:
a relationship in which an increase in the exposure is associated with an decrease in the outcome or vice versa.
lymphoma:
a cancerous tumor in the lymph nodes.
positive association:
a relationship in which an increase in the exposure is associated with an increase in the outcome or vice versa.
prevalence:
the proportion of people in a population who have a particular characteristic (e.g., the proportion of smokers in the total US population).
prospective study:
a type of study in which the disease of interest develops after data collection has begun.
retrospective study:
a type of study that begins after both the exposure and disease have occurred.
sarcoma:
a cancerous tumor of connective tissue.
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